Kai Wright is host and managing editor of Notes From America with Kai Wright. The show airs live on public radio stations nationally, Sundays at 6p eastern.
The Atlantic hailed the show as one of the “The Best Podcasts of 2018,” declaring that it “has always been able to swiftly explain current events through the lens of the past.”
In addition, Wright has been the host of a number of WNYC Studios’ limited edition podcasts with social justice themes. He is host, most recently, of Blindspot Season 3: The Plague in the Shadows, which documents the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. He was also host of The Stakes, There Goes the Neighborhood, and Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, which was honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. He also served as one of the hosts of Indivisible, a national live radio call-in show that WNYC convened during the first 100 days of the Trump Administration to invite Americans to come together across divides.
Wright’s journalism has focused on social, racial, and economic justice throughout his career. Formerly, he was an editor at The Nation, the editorial director of Colorlines, and an investigative reporting fellow of Type Media Center. Wright is the author of Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York, as well as two surveys of Black American history, and a contributor to the best-selling collection Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America.
Shows:
Kai Wright appears in the following:
Monday, December 16, 2024
From holiday sing-alongs to your personal stories, the best part of this show is hearing from our listeners. Before we wrap up, we revisit some special moments — led by you.
Monday, December 02, 2024
Decades later, AIDS is still with us and its status as an epidemic remains accurate. In this episode, we learn why that is from two women and a young man born with HIV.
Monday, November 25, 2024
If we actually abolish the police, would we be safe? Safer? We ask three experts to break down what a world beyond policing looks like.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
What do the results of the presidential election tell us about our country? A veteran movement organizer reflects on what feels like a rejection of her core values.
Wednesday, November 06, 2024
Kai Wright joins Alison to reflect on Election Night and we take listener calls.
Monday, November 04, 2024
No matter the outcome of the 2024 race, the damage done by disinformation campaigns on the right will have a lasting effect on our democracy.
Monday, October 28, 2024
The widening gender gap in our politics may sway the 2024 presidential election. We travel to the heart of one swing state to discuss the factors contributing to the divide.
Monday, October 14, 2024
The newest Supreme Court Justice talks about her ambition from a young age, being an inheritor of Civil RIghts Movement, the court she entered and so much more.
Monday, September 30, 2024
Meet members of Gen Z — the youngest group of Americans eligible to vote in this year’s election — and learn about what drives them to engage with politics right now.
Monday, September 16, 2024
A new investigation reveals that millions of Latino voters in the U.S. are being exposed to disinformation on Spanish radio stations. Who or what is behind the lies and propaganda?
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Elie Mystal joins Kai “On the Call” to break down how the vice president used classic trial lawyer tactics to take apart Donald Trump in their debate on ABC News.
Thursday, September 05, 2024
Kai gets on the call with historian Arash Azizi to discuss the path to a ceasefire deal in the Middle East for the current administration and the road ahead for the next one.
Monday, August 26, 2024
What we know about each political party’s economic policies.
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Seven swing states will be decisive in the 2024 election. Kai gets “On the Call” to ask a pollster how voters in those states feel about the economy, safety and presidential leadership.
Monday, August 19, 2024
The Vice President came of age inside collegiate institutions that have shaped Black, middle-class culture for generations. She says they imprinted deeply upon her as well.
Thursday, August 15, 2024
Journalist Aymann Ismail gets “On the Call” with Kai to share his reporting on “uncommitted” Democrats pushing Harris for an arms embargo on Israel — and awkward exchanges from the RNC.
Monday, August 12, 2024
From “Hotties for Harris" to “American Bad Ass,” this year’s presidential election has quite a soundtrack. We add everything in between to this year’s NFA Summer Playlist.
Thursday, August 08, 2024
Commentator Anand Giridharadas gets “On the Call” with Kai to argue that the Harris-Walz campaign has fundamentally changed the way Democrats do politics — and for the better.
Saturday, August 03, 2024
Harlem-born writer James Baldwin would have been 100 years old in 2024. A new podcast explores how his novels, essays and ideas remain both inspiring and eerily resonant today.
Thursday, August 01, 2024
Elie Mystal gets “On the Call” with host Kai Wright to weigh the pros and cons of Biden’s SCOTUS plan — and make a case that Kamala Harris is uniquely suited to rein in the high court.